A man who robbed a youngster of the £1,000 BMX bike he had lovingly built himself has escaped being jailed because of the delay in the case getting to court.

Calvin Ashby had pleaded guilty to robbing the 16-year-old of his bike and other property and then assaulting him.

But after hearing that the case had lain dormant for more than two years because of a filing mistake, the judge decided not to impose an immediate prison term.

Instead Ashby, 20, of Mount Pleasant Terrace, Nuneaton, was sentenced to 15 months suspended for 12 months and was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Theresa Thorp said that on a Saturday afternoon in April 2011 a 16-year-old boy was riding his bike along Blackhorse Road, Bedworth, on his way to Hawkesbury.

The teenager, who had lovingly custom-built the £1,000 bike himself, stopped to answer his phone.

He then felt someone barge him from behind, causing him to drop his phone and fall from his bike.

The lad looked up from the ground and recognised his attacker, another teenager who has since been dealt with in the youth court and given a referral order.

He picked up his phone and bike and started to ride away, but was chased by the youth and knocked from his bike again.

As he began to get up for a second time, Ashby arrived on the scene from a nearby street and threatened to batter him if he did not empty his pockets.

The teenager handed over his phone and iPod, and Ashby also searched his wallet and took £30 from it before riding off on his young victim’s bike.

As he did so, Ashby punched him once to the face and warned the boy not to go to the police.

When he was arrested nine days later Ashby denied being involved in the robbery and claimed he was elsewhere with another friend at the time.

Asked about the delay in the case getting to court, Miss Thorp explained that after Ashby and his co-defendant were released after being arrested and interviewed, the file lay dormant for a long time because of a filing mistake.

Amy Jacobs, defending, said: “The best mitigation for Calvin Ashby is his guilty plea, and also the delay.”

She said Ashby’s offending had been drug-related, but that he was now ‘‘a changed man’’.

After serving a custodial sentence for another offence in 2012, be immediately got himself a job and is due to start an engineering training course for which he has had to undergo tests which show he is drug-free, added Miss Jacobs.

Sentencing Ashby, Recorder Anthony Potter told him: “You and an accomplice committed a mean-spirited offence against a young boy.

“You took what must have been his love and joy, a bike he had built himself and which was not just of financial value but of sentimental value to him.

“I could send you to prison today, and that’s what you deserve for this offence.

“But set against that is the fact that in the time since this offence you seem to have realised that a life of drug-taking crime is not a fulfilling way to spend your time.’’